Sarney Seeking New Political Alliance in Brazil

Brazilian President Jose Sarney, lacking solid support from his majority party, is attempting to form a new political alliance more loyal to his administration.

Sarney is asking politicians to sign a document that includes a pledge “to support the president in the actions that he deems appropriate in the legislative, governmental and political area.”

Announcing the unusual move on nationwide television Wednesday night, Sarney said his administration was “beginning a new stage” after two years and seven months in power.

“At no time in these two years of government have I felt a firm and necessary support,” he complained.

In asking for a signed pledge of support, Sarney runs the risk of ending up without majority backing in the 559-member Congress, which is writing a new Brazilian constitution. Sen. Jose Richa, one of Sarney’s congressional supporters, acknowledged that possibility Thursday in a television interview.

‘Not a Novelty’

“All political action involves risks,” Richa said. “The government might not obtain a majority, and govern with a minority, which would not be a novelty.”

Sarney’s move also raises a threat to the unity of his Brazilian Democratic Movement, the country’s largest party. Some of the party’s congressional leaders have privately described the pledge of support as unacceptable, according to the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

Many of the party’s congressmen are backing a constitutional proposal that would establish a parliamentary form of government, shifting most executive power from the president to a prime minister. Others are pressing for action to hold elections that would reduce Sarney’s term from its original six years to four, ending in March, 1989.

Sarney’s new document commits its signers to support his demand for a mandate of five years with full powers.

The document also expresses agreement with Sarney’s economic policies, including “support for private enterprise as the decisive factor in economic development”--a policy that is likely to meet resistance from the left wing of Sarney’s party.

Sarney was a leading member of the right-wing party that supported the military government that ruled Brazil for 21 years. In 1984, after the military regime agreed to turn power over to a civilian president, Sarney switched to the opposition Brazilian Democratic Movement.

Other defectors from the pro-military party joined the new Liberal Front Party, which joined the Democratic Movement in an alliance aimed at winning the presidential contest in an electoral college.

Sarney was the compromise candidate for vice president on the winning ticket. President-elect Tancredo Neves died before taking office.